Poetic Drabblery
by AntebellumHope
Summary: What is the TMNT author without a collection of drabbles? Mostly in free verse style, with varying POVs.  Please read and review!
1. Defense

**Author's Note: **Just a poetic Donnie drabble that insisted on distracting me and explores Donatello's pacifistic nature. And yes, Don not Raph. I know my turtles. Raphael couldn't spell some of these words, let alone use them correctly. *is promptly skewered by a sai*

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><p>I can fight you, but I cannot kill you<br>For feeling the life draining from beneath my hands  
>Is empowering, frightening, pleasing.<br>I can maim you. I can hurt you eagerly, willingly.

For every wrong done to mine,  
>A cut, a bruise, recompense a thousand-fold.<p>

I can harm you, fueled as I am  
>with tears and fears and screams<br>with my brothers' blood being washed down my arms  
>with the rage you could not imagine I possessed.<p>

For every unrepentant trespass against mine,  
>retribution.<p>

I can fight you, but I cannot kill you.  
>For if I kill you, I become like you, become you<br>abomination that you are, splotch marring creation.

For all the corruption within me,  
>apology and ferocity,<br>and the promise that I will never, ever kill you.

But that does not mean our battle will never come.


	2. Looking Glass

**Author's Note:** Leo just strikes me as the type to have self discoveries (not all of them pleasant) at random times. Let me know what you think, please!

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><p>When the mirror shatters, glass shards distort reflection.<br>Perception, reality are undone and broken  
>Pieces of what was or what might have been<br>refuse to speak of the whole that was lost.

When the mirror shatters, you see what you need.  
>Order is no longer a threat to your wants;<br>it's their murderer.  
>You can put glass fragments together how you please and yet,<br>it is displeasing,  
>showing you everything and nothing you wished to view.<p>

_So don't look, and don't drop it next time_.

When the mirror shatters, you might turn it - what's left anyway - over in your palm,  
>Shards splitting skin.<br>Blood dribbles down ridges and grooves, imprinting you, staining you.

Joviality? That piece is in three.  
>Fury? That piece is lusterless.<br>Tranquility? That piece is lost.  
>And nothing's left to call you out on your misstep.<p>

All you are and have been and will be is broken  
>when glass cracks like paper and leaves you<br>naught but a distorted reflection.

_So sweep up the pieces._


	3. Pretending

Tha harder tha light, tha harsher tha shadow.  
>It's a lesson I can't forget.<p>

Ya ever watch the city at night? Y'know, really watch it come alive?  
>Tha neon fires, tha incandescent inferno are hard ta look at without suff'rin' for it.<br>Bright lights blind ya, deafen ya, soften ya up fer the wolves below.  
>Tha austere light shows ya just how awful you and ev'rything really are<br>before sucker punchin' ya and leavin' ya lost in the remaining dark.

And that furious dark - well, ya better hope ya ain't alone in it.  
>As much as ya tell yerself yer all by yer lonesome in the dark, you know you ain't.<br>Lost fury, misplaced passion, temper the shadow's edge and let you see.  
>Personally, I like it better when I can't.<p>

Things that come creepin' out of the shadow without really makin' it into the scorching light  
>twist and claw and break whatcha thought you knew.<p>

_Look. Look at what you did. Look at what you didn't do._

**Their bodies lie helpless and accusing.**

_Oh, nii-san. What happened to you?_

**They are broken and battered and torn…**.

_Ototo, not you, too!_

…_**.**_**frozen in silent screams….**

_Tou-san, where are you!_

…**..waiting for the rescue that came too late**.

The problem with livin' in the city is it picks up on yer nightmares.  
>It mocks them, mocks you, and ya gotta get used to it,<br>ta seein' whatcha ya can and can't do on display  
>in one part or the other.<p>

The good thing 'bout livin' in the city is  
>'least if it's in the shadow, you can pretend it ain't there.<p>

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><p>Nii-san = big brother<br>Ototo = little brother  
>Tou-san = father<p>

Do I _really_ have to explain who this is, my fellow TMNT fans? So whaddaya think? (Btw, if Raph asks, I'm not here. *sai flies past nose* OH, COME ON!)


	4. Shield

Silence is golden, but it's luster is captivating,  
>and it's captive I will never be,<br>and so help me if I let any of the others walk that path.

Tears glisten as dreams give way to terrors.  
>I grandstand, putting on a show to warm their hearts<br>Hoping to melt the cold constricting them.

I can feel the gratitude coming in waves  
>as they smile, pat my shoulder, forget the enemy for a moment,<br>and I shrink back from the oblivious grins.

It sucks facing demons on your own,  
>but at least they won't feel a need to be last minute heroes.<br>Watching them rest from the eye of the storm is unsettling.

I'm braced for the eye wall, ready to fight,  
>ever on guard for their sakes.<br>Here it comes. Here goes nothing.

It's quieter than I thought it would be.

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><p><strong>AUTHOR'S NOTE:<strong> So this might be why Mikey likes being the 'little brother.' Anyway, let me know whatcha think, if it's believable, if it's in character, if I need to go bury my journals and pens, etc.


	5. The Art of Peace

Few people understand what I've accomplished.  
>It's not about ignoring the problem or hoping it will go away;<br>that kind of thinking almost always gets you killed.

Ignorance is stupidity.  
>Don't you think I know that?<p>

Do you think me spineless?  
>Why?<br>Do you think me a coward?  
>Because I think differently, because I prefer simplicity?<p>

Few people see what I seek,  
>acknowledge the problem and put your all into circumnavigating it<br>that a direct, victimless way to solve it can be found.

It is not a perfect method; it has its weaknesses like all else.  
>But at least in looking for it, I'm considering the good of all involved,<br>whether or not it can be realized.

Would you prefer violence? Go ahead; pursue it.  
>See how far you get.<br>Allies, friends, potential comrades are blown away in its wake.  
>In the end, all you get is more violence, just running in bloody circles.<p>

If you think I think that "ignorance is bliss," let me point out that "an eye for an eye makes the whole world blind."

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><p><strong>AN: **First off, this is a bit of a rant for me. Rough day and all. Secondly, how do y'all interpret this? Who do you think is speaking? And to whom, including himself?


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